Separation Countdown
by rimacchi
Summary: Haruka was suffering a case pneumonia ever since he was a child. When he was about to achieve a life of mediocrity that he was expecting, his conditions had begun to catch up to him and won't leave him alone. As Haruka sinks deeper into destroying his own self, he drowns in despair. Who would be there to help him...?
1. Chapter 1

Separation Countdown

ー rimacchi ー

CHAPTER I

A World If They Haven't Met

"Haru," A voice swept through Haruka's ears as he felt his feet taking unsteady steps on the pavement. At the moment, he realized that the day was about to come to an end as his best friend and he began to walk their way home on a thirty-minute journey after such misfortune landed before their heads when the trains had stopped moving due to railing problems. "What terrible luck we have. The train had to break down." The boy beside him sighed.

His feet began to sting as he noticed the rays of setting sunlight had almost dyed the brunette boy's hair to orange. Makoto had given him a calm smile as Haruka's eyes met the ocean, now bathed in crimson light.

"You still want to swim?" Makoto asked followed by a chuckle. Haruka didn't speak. He simply nodded, a short answer to his friend's question.

Sure, they had just finished practice with the juniorsーNagisa and Reiー with a willed manager, Gou, who was filled with enthusiasm as the perfectuals are coming up. But Haru didn't feel like he had to leave the water. It was indeed tiring but Haruka wanted to stay and feel the water. He didn't need to swim at that time, but only to float freely, to get carried at the water's surface. He didn't wonder why, though. Maybe because he didn't need to think of a reason. He just thought that he needed to do it.

"Makoto," Haruka started off, almost startling the brunette. "Could we go back to school?" He said, his urge getting to him.

"Eh?" Makoto reacted, not quite understanding the shorter boy's words. "But it's going to be dark soon. Plus, the trains have stopped so we need to walk home again. Are you sure? We're almost to your house."

Haruka sighed roughly, biting his lower lip then after. "Nevermind," He said, finally noticing his words. "Let's go home." His blue eyes left the ocean as he focused on getting home, his feet moving forward as Makoto followed him.

"Don't worry, you'll have all the time you need tomorrow, Haru." Makoto smiled.

"Tomorrow..." Haru whispered to himself as his eyes softened.

"Haru," The brunette lost his track and stopped as Haruka moved forward a few steps. Almost as if he wanted to be left behind if it weren't for his call.

"Hmm?" Haruka tilted his head, confusion gathering up in his eyes as he noticed those green eyes staring with all sincerity in them, it almost made him shiver. "W-what is it, Makoto?" He hasn't been this serious in years.

"Haru," Makoto called out again, worry covering up his gentle voice as it reached Haruka's ears. "Are you okay...?" He asked slowly, as if he was hesitating.

Haruka swallowed the lump stuck in his throat, preventing a cough, as a droplet of sweat dropped down to his chin. He bit his lower lip, cursing in his thoughts. It was Makoto he was facing. He had known him since forever and who knows, both of them might have even met inside of their mothers' wombs. Of course he would at least notice something's off.

"What are you talking about, Makoto?" Haruka replied, maintaing his usual persona. "I'm fine." He wasn't, that's for sure but the words seem to get stuck behind his throat in front of the brunette.

The wind had begun to blow, whispering into their ears as locks of hair began to sweep through their foreheads and flutter up their clothes. Makoto began to stare at Haruka's ocean eyes as the sound of the sea began to mix up with the breeze.

"I guess it was just my imagination." Makoto chuckled, smiling to himself. "Sorry, Haru. I must be tired." He continued, scratching his head as he caught up with his steps next to Haruka. "So, let's go home then." He chanted.

The sun has started to take its leave, letting the darkness seep in, painting the crimson sky into a starry night. The breeze chilling up to the boys' shoulders as the dark began to fill in to their eyes.

"It's getting pretty dark." Makoto said as he kept on walking beside Haruka as he nodded silently in reply.

"Ren and Ran must be worried about you by now." Haruka commented followed by a small cough.

"Well, they could get a bit clingy at times." Makoto laughed. "They'd be worried about you, too, Haru-chan" He teased as Haruka furrowed his brows together.

"Drop the '-chan' already." Haruka scolded and stopped after emphasizing his words as he heard the sound of water gush through his ears. Makoto stopped on his tracks along with him.

Haruka almost didn't notice it because of the darkness. His legs began to lead him aimlessly at the edge of the river bank's slope as he watched the river water hit the rocks, splashing its way, leading doplets of water hit the grass.

"The river..." Haruka whispered to himself as the wind began to blow once more, even colder than before. "Brings back memories." The cold began to seep in through the boy's body as his coughs began to volume up.

"Yeah... It does." Makoto said almost in a monotone voice as if he was being forced to remember his memories. "Brings back a lot." The brunette bit his lip when he gritted his teeth as he took a deep breath. "Let's go, Haru." He grabbed Haruka's arm and began to drag him away from the river bank.

"Is there something wrong, Makoto?" Haruka asked in confusion as they began speed walking away from the river.

"It's just..." Makoto began to calm himself down as he began to slow down on his steps and clear his mind. Looking back at Haruka, he gave a gentle smile as he slowly let go of his friend's arm. "It's getting colder, don't you think, Haru? I don't want one of us to catch a cold before the perfectuals. Gou and the others would definitely worry too." Makoto hid all unpleasant things inside him, including the ones that he didn't want to remember.

Haruka's lip shook. He regained his composure and began walking the same speed as Makoto's hiding the coughs that he began to make. "Y-yeah." He replied.

The boys finally reached up on top of the stairs The sky above them, pitch black. The space between both teens was covered in silence and as both of them stood there, the silence began deafening. Haruka's ears began to ring and a stabbing pain impelled to his chest as oxygen in his lungs began to empty up once more, his mind began to become bothered by Makoto's expression earlier at the river and what made it worse was he didn't have any idea why.

"So," Makoto began, snapping Haruka out of his own world. "I'm going this way. Will you be fine by yourself? It's pretty dark. I heard from the neighbors that some street lights are still in repair."

"No, I'mー"

"Onii-chan!" A pair of voices began to overlap, cutting Haruka off his words as two resembling faces began to race onto them. "Onii-chan!" They said again in synchronization.

"Ren, Ran!" Makoto laughed as his siblings began to hug his legs. Haruka pulled the edges of his lips to form a small smile. "Why are you still outside?"

"Ah! Haru-chan is also here!" Ran said, hugging Haruka as well.

"Mother forgot some seasonings for dinner and we were going to the kind grandma next door to give us some!" Ren cheered. "But then, we saw you on from afar so we ran here!" He chuckled.

Makoto gently pat their heads as he knelt down to their height. "I see." He smiled in reply. "So, let's go home and have dinner. Is Dad home yet?" He asked as the twins nodded.

Haruka's smile began to widen as he watched the siblings laugh. His heart felt warm and at the back of his mind, he would have been thinking on how great would it be to have siblings.

"Haru-chan should come over for dinner too!" Ren cheered, staring at Haruka with a bright smile. "Mother would like it if you come!" He added as Ran began to cheer 'that's right! That's right!'

"Yeah, Haru, you should come over too." Makoto insisted with gentle eyes piercing through his. "It's been a while since you ate at our house. I'm sure you would like to eat something else besides mackerel. "

Haruka wanted to. He really did. He wanted to say 'okay' and get dragged along by the twins to Makoto's bright house. But...

"No, it's fine. I'm kind of tired with all that walking so I think I'm going straight home. Some other time might be good though." Haruka replied, noticing a hint of disappointment in both of the twins, as well as Makoto's.

It wasn't his fault though.

"Oh, I see." Makoto said. "Well, have a nice night then, Haru." He waved and added a 'see you tomorrow' as he turned his back and began to walk home, his silhouette becoming smaller and smaller until it completely became invisible.

Haruka sighed, let out a cough as he climbed the rest of the stairs, noticing the broken street lights the neighbors were talking about.

Without noticing, Haruka had led himself to his door, sliding it to reveal the spacious interior of his house being illuminated as he flicked up the light switch.

His feet began to walk without his bidding as he swayed, unsteady, his balance taken away. Haruka's eyes began to blur when the stabbing pain went back to his chest and when his feet began to wobble up like jelly, he finally collapses on the bed, his eyes half closed. The ticking clock raided his ears.

He focused on his breathing, timing it up with the clock for a steady pace as he tightened his grip on his chest when he took a deep breath. His vision getting swirled as he focused on the medicine he had on his desk.

"I'm fine..." He whispered to himself, almost out of breath as be closed his eyes, clutching on his chest. "I'm fine... I'm fine..." He chanted.

'I'm fine...'

He told himself that over and over. Whether it was by the depths of his mind or his voice, he never stopped chanting those words that maintained his persona, his mediocrityーhis life.

'I'm fine...'

But as Haruka whispered those words, at the back of his mind, he thought of something else.

'I can't let Makoto know.'

He didn't want to become a burden to the person he has beside him.

'I can't afford to let him know...'

Sometimes before Haruka would sleep, he would always think about the passing days, his memories and what would his future self look like. But above everything else, he would think of a world where the two of them didn't meet. A world where Makoto wasn't there to take his hand. Unsurprisingly, he could only think about it and couldn't bring his mind to send off pictures because he already know what would happen to him... Everything will all fade to black.

'I'm fine... As long as Makoto remains the same.'

/AUTHOR'S NOTE/

So yeah, hey guys. This is my very first Free! Fanfic. This may contain spoilers from the anime or from the light novel. I hope you enjoy this. :3


	2. Chapter 2

Separation Countdown

ー rimacchi ー

CHAPTER II

Enclosure

He could feel the heat getting through his head as the words slide out of his ears. Haruka's eyes almost squinted as he kept observing the room dipped in white paint, his feet continously tapping on the wooden floorboards as he seek for another distraction while waiting for the person. The ticking clock reminded him that time was still running inside that stale room.

"What's taking him so long...?" Haruka mumbled to himself as he rubbed the leaves of a newly watered plant next to his seat. He eventually stopped and let his back sink on the chair's back cushion after noticing that the plant gave the pad of his fingers a greenish color. "Did he hit on some girls again...?" He asked himself with a sigh as he lifted his head up, staring at the turning ceiling fan which he didn't even notice since it didn't even give much cool air.

Before Haruka could even decide to stand up and pace around the room, touching whatever he could see that would give him amusement for the moment, the door had flung open, a man entered the room carrying a number of folders with the rest of the papers falling to the ground. He immediately put them down on a nearby oak desk as he gave out a frustrated sigh. Haruka looked at him with nervous eyes.

"Ah, Haruka." The man smiled at him, fixing his glasses and dusting his white coat. "I'm sorry, I had some trouble with the paperwork." He laughed finger combing his chesnut hair over his way to Haruka.

'I could tell.' Haruka thought to himself as he gave a nod to him. "It's okay, Okabe-san."

"Would you like something to drink before I tell you the news?" Okabe turned to the cabinet next to his desk, the wooden board creaking as he opened it, revealing a small fridge that he wasn't supposed to keep.

"Aren't those things supposed to be prohibited in a Doctor's office here?" Haruka asked, raising a brow.

"Well, well, they don't check mine properly and besides, having this is more convenient than going to the vending machine." Okabe helped himself with some cold canned coffee he kept inside his mini hidden fridge. "There are some who know but they don't really mind. They ask me for free drinks which is sort of a give and take method." He shruged as he went back to Haruka, sitting in front of him, giving him a can of orange juice.

Haruka accepted the juice from the man's hands and placed it on the the coffee table, his fingers tracing the droplets of water from the can's smooth surface. "So... Bad news or good news...?" Haruka started.

Okabe stared at Haruka for a moment, letting the ticking clock take over the silence. The man let out a deep sigh as he placed the empty coffee can on the table. "Haruka, do you really want to have the doctor talk now? I brought you to my office since I thought you need to relax for a bit. You can't do that in the check-up room."

"Dr. Okabe Yuusuke" Haruka called, making Okabe's shoulders rise for a bit then returning to their proper place. He called him 'Doctor' not the usual 'Okabe-san'

"Haruka..." Okabe whispered to himself as he noticed the boy's shivering fingers. Indeed, he wasn't ready to hear the results.

The boy wasn't speaking. He was always like that anyways. No one could ever know what's going on in his head besides waterーand how he loves to be in it. But now, all the man could sense is fear of the words that he is about to say.

"Okay, Haruka..." Okabe stared at the oak coffee table. He couldn't bare looking at the boy's anxious eyes. "No, Nanase-kun"

Okabe turned around once more to his desk, searching through the brown office folders he had brought in earlier and came back to his seat quickly. Opening the folder slowly, Haruka could barely see the faded 'Nanase Haruka' written at the folder's side. With the folder covering Okabe's face, he noticed how thick it has become.

"Nanase-kun, your pneumonia is getting serious." Okabe went straight to the point, almost being blunt, as he placed the recent check up results on the table in front of Haruka. "Are you aware of this?"

Rather than aware, Haruka was expecting this. He knew that inside himself, he's going to go through that stage and not knowing when the trouble would ever end. With that, he gave off a sick chuckle. "I've been expecting it."

"This isn't going well, Nanase-kun." Okabe reminded. "If this continues you'll reallyー"

"Can I still swim?" Haruka cut him off.

Okabe blinked his eyes in surprise.

"Swim?" He said in an unsure tone, not believing what Haruka had said. "You know how pneumonia works... Right?" He asked, worried.

"...I still need to swim..." Haruka whispered. "No matter what you say I'll still swim. Even if I end up suffocating myself in the water because of it."

Okabe couldn't think of any other reply. He knew this boy ever since his sickness was diagnosed. The doctor knew how much this boy had loved swimming more than life perhaps. He wondered what would happen if Haruka were to suffer even more emotionally and mentally if he were to be stripped of his right to swim.

That would be a bad idea.

"Why...?" Okabe could only ask that single word out of worry.

Haruka looked down at the orange juice can, watching water droplets getting pulled by gravity as pictures had began to play inside of his head.

Pictures of a girl with red hair doing calligraphy for their training.

Picutres of a cheerful blonde jumping happily like a child.

Pictures of a smart and responsible boy, memorizing theories and assumptions for the improvement of the club and for his as well.

Pictures of an older redhead who he considers as both friend and rival.

...Pictures of a brunette taking his hand, and never letting it go ever since.

Haruka bit his lip and swallowed the lump in his throat. "It's the only thing I have left..."

The silence swallowed the room. Both males couldn't even look at each other with the tense atmosphere drowning them.

"Okay..." Okabe whispers to himself as he reached for his coat pocket and revealed to Haruka a transparent orange container with a number of white pills resting inside it, placing it on the table. "I predicted this might happen..."

Haruka begun to stare at the miniature bottle of plastic, his eyes seeing through the white pills, curious of what they were. He extended his hand to the orange bottle and brought it closer to him, observing.

"What... Are these?" He asked slowly,rotating the bottle with his fingers, observing it through many angles.

"Just a new developed antiviral medicine. It might still help when you feel... You know, uneasy." Okabe scratched the back of his head. "It may have some other minor side effects so I still reccommend hospital admission and-"

"This is fine." Haruka cut him off, still staring at the bottle in his hands. "As long as it could keep me swimming."

Okabe bit his lower lip and rolled his fingers into a fist, worry filling up his blood.

"You don't have to do this, Haruka." He blurted out. "You're destroying yourself." He added.

"I don't mind being destroyed." Haruka whispered to himself. "As long as... I could be free..."

"Please do tell me if everything gets too hard on you. I'll be there right away." Okabe reminded, putting the papers back in Haruka's folder. "Just keep in mind that you need to spend more time on resting... Please."

Haruka frowned, keeping the bottle of medicine in his pocket as his eyes focused once more on Okabe. "I can't say for sure." He replied quietly.

"Promise me that you'll try. For the sake of your parents and for mine as well." He advised as he stood back up and returned the folders to his desk, leaving Haruka with his thoughts.

••••••••••••

"Haru?" Makoto called him, waving his hand in front of Haruka's face.

"Yeah?" Haruka replied, facing the brunette.

"You seem a little off today... Is everything alright?" Makoto said out of worry. "Did you take your breakfast?"

"Ummm..." Haruka nodded as both of them continued to walk their way into the crowd, entering the train to their school. "I just didn't get enough sleep."

"I see." Makoto replied.

The silence between them was back as they faced the scenery behind the tain's glass. Haruka felt the bottle's rough plastic lid inside of his pocket, rubbing it against his nails as he impatiently taps his foot.

'I need to tell him...' Haruka thought to himself. 'He's my best friend, I need to tell him... He deserves to know.'

The continuous rubbing on the plastic tip had suddenly stopped as the noise entering Haruka's ears began to transform into deafening rings as he remembered flashes of his past.

•

「Haruka! Haruka! 」 Makoto's voice had cracked as he shook Haruka's shoulder. 「Haruka, snap out of it... Please!」

'No, Makoto... Don't show me such a sad face. I'm fine...

I'm fine...'

•

The trains had stopped and both boys began to walk once more to school.

'If things get complicated, this thing in my pocket can possibly save me...' He thought once more. 'I need to tell him...'

Haruka had been lost inside his thoughts, he didn't notice that he was already sitting on his chair, waiting for their homeroom teacher to arrive.

"Perfectuals is coming up, Haru." Makoto snapped him out of his trance. "Somehow, I'm feeling fired up." He ended his statement with a laugh.

Haruka bit his lip, enclosing his fingers on the bottle he has on his pocket. "Yeah..." He replied.

The more Makoto showed him his gentle smile, the more Haruka had thought of trying to tell the brunette, but the words wouldn't come out.

"Let's work hard together, okay Haru?" Makoto said as he beamed with happiness.

Makoto was too bright. Too bright that it can somehow burn through Haruka's eyes.

His grip on the bottle loosens as he gave out a small smile to Makoto.

"Yeah..."

'I can't tell him...'

AUTHOR'S NOTE

So yeah, 2nd chapter is up :3 I hope you enjoy R&R please :)


	3. Chapter 3

Separation Countdown

ー rimacchi ー

CHAPTER III

Prelude

"I'm telling you, no sweets for now!" He heard Gou's voice getting louder and louder as she insisted to change their diets.

"Gou-chan, you don't know how sad life is without sweets!" Nagisa whined, taking another large bite of his Iwatobi Cream Filled Bread, insisting that he went into dozens of crowds in order to get it. "I lost half of my money because of that!" He said in between his chewing.

"Nagisa-kun! Let's just listen to Gou-san already " Rei scolded the smaller blonde, taking the piece of bread from his hands.

"Rei-chan~" Nagisa whined, punching him playfully on his shoulder. "I thought you were on my side! Don't be such a sour puss!" Nagisa said, his voice getting higher.

A few minutes after, the three second years had begun passing bread, avoiding it landing on Nagisa's hands. Until at least the pastry had landed with a splash on the cool chlorine-filled water.

"Waaah!" The three said in unison as the watched the piece of baked flour sink to the depths of the pool.

"My lifeline!" Nagisa cried, falling down on his knees as if a puppy had drowned. "My money, wasted. For nothing." He continued, lowering his head.

Rei began to fix his glasses, shaking his head at the sight of his classmate crying over sunken bread like it was a dead body that had drowned in the vast ocean. Gou, on the other hand, sighed in relief and then after bounced with joy as to see that the blonde wouldn't have to eat such pastry containing millions of calories that would definitely ruin their regimen.

"You're a cruel witch, Gou-chan! " Nagisa cried.

"It was for your own good!" Gou snorted back, folding her arms.

The two had already gotten into one of their quarrels which rarely happen. Rei began to step into the middle of the two, trying to calm them down, convincing the both of them that it's illogical to fight over something as irrational as bread.

"Now, what seems to be going on?" The three had stopped talking as their heads automatically turned to the tall brunette, a year above them.

"Makoto-senpai!"

"Mako-chan!"

Both of them said in unison.

"They were fighting over bread, Makoto-senpai. " Rei said, sighing, rubbing his temples like his head was about to burst in a matter of seconds. The two second years stared at Makoto, embarrassment filling them up. Why would they fight over a piece of bread?

Makoto could only blink at them, staring blankly into their eyes before he bursted in chuckles. "Oh, man. And I thought it was something serious!" Makoto continued and the three laughed along with him, forgetting what happened.

Before all of them can start practice, Nagisa had to swim down and collect the soaked pieces of bread by Gou's orders, afraid that it would damage the pool filters.

"Makoto-senpai," Gou called, fixing the kick boards in the shelf. "I don't see Haruka-senpai with you..."

Makoto skimmed over the white papers smeared in pencil lead. Gou's handwriting had always been neat and easy to read but Makoto for once didn't pay any heed to the training regimens compiled in his clipboard. He simply pass through the letters and numbers without fully understanding them. He then stopped at the mention of Haruka's name.

"Oh... Haru?" The brunette turned to the redhead a gentle smile forming into his face. "He's still in the classroom."

Gou furrowed her eyebrows, rubbing her fingers onto the blue foam of the kickboard. Of all times to be late and day dreaming, it had to be now and it was Haruka above all people. Haruka. The person who would actually jump into a displayed aquarium in the mall.

"Eh? Why?" Gou asked, now confused and somewhat curious to what the raven haired senior might be doing in the classroom, missing their training for perfectuals.

"Amakata-sensei asked him to stay for a while." Makoto laughed. "You know Haruka wouldn't be able to miss a single club meeting when the pool is open for him yo dive into."

"Well he _is_ Haruka-senpai." Gou chuckled, finally heading outside with a handful of kickboards and pull buoys for them to use. "I remember when he jumped right into the pool during Spring and caught a cold." She smiled.

"Well, Haru will always be Haru, after all." Makoto replied.

The sun painted the blue canvas of the sky into a scheme of orange, it was bidding goodbye as the lights had started to shine over the windows of the classroom, leaving shadows under the wooden tables and chairs.

Haruka was there, at his usual seat of course, fidgeting with his charcoal pencil and sketchbook. The cicadas started to sing as their sound echoed and reached the four corners of the classroom, bouncing back and forth between the white walls. He tapped at the compressed papers with the pencil tip, thinking of another thing to add to his drawing.

He tilted his head, looking at it. It somehow surprised him to see that he drew such a thing. A boy, trapped in a cage, reaching out to a small bird flying futher to the sky. He drew it without realizing the outcome. The stoke of black charcoal along with the detailed shading and edges stood out, revealing the boy's emotion of freedom... It looked real to him-his drawing. A little bit too real that he felt himself getting nauseous just by looking at it. Why did he draw such a thing?

Haruka then lowered the pencil to his table, biting his lip. It was the first time he missed practice. Somewhere deep inside of him, he felt crushed and a deep black hole has been formed within him. He felt empty. But somehow when he stood up to go downstairs to the pool earlier, he felt hesitation filling up to his veins and his hands started to shake so he turned his back and went to the classroom. Why did he do such a thing?

'_Did I just reject swimming...?' _Haruka asked himself, wiping a bead of sweat that trickled from his forehead. He felt utterly confused, why was it? It wasn't like he had an attack when he went downstairs... So why did he turn back?

'_Did I just feel fear towards the water...?' _

It was the last thing he could think of. And even Haruka himself find it to be shocking that he could ask if he was afraid of water. For a moment, he thought he had lost it. He thought that the doctor's words might be causing him paranoia.

Haruka sighed. What was he doing to himself?

_'I'm just shocked that's all. Considering on how Okabe-san said it then anyone has the right to be shocked.' _He thought to himself, staring the blackboard, now clean from any chalk stains._ 'I'll be fine and swimming once again by tomorrow as I forget about Okabe-san's words.' _

Haruka nodded to himself af his eyelids began to grow heavy. '_After all... I can't get Makoto to become suspicious on anything... I musn't.' _

The sound of a sliding door made him turn his head to the brunette entering the room.

"Haru...?" Makoto asked, tilting his head, quite confused on why Haruka, the person who would leave people behind to go home early, would stay at the classroom when it was already sundown. "Why are you still here? I thought you had gone home." The taller boy asked, walking closer to Haruka. "It was the first time you missed practice." He continued, a glint of disappointment present in his green eyes.

Haruka avoided his gaze as he stared at the now-empty track field, now empty.

"Amakata-sensei talked for a long time to me. She was asking why I wrote 'free' in the last essay question in her literature test earlier." He lied. Amakata-sensei never called him out. But such a reason could be believable since it was Haruka. He has done such a thing before his pneumonia ever got worse. "We finished late and I thought there wouldn't be enough time left to practice so I went here to kill the time."

Makoto only stared at Haruka with his explanation.

"I see." He replied smiling, making the smaller boy relieved that Makoto believed his lie. Though Haruka did feel guilty about it at first but what else could he have done? "Oh..?" Makoto's eyes landed on the sketch on Haruka's table, lifting it up to see it.

"W-wait!" Haruka said, trying to take the drawing back but it was too late. Makoto had already started to analyze every line, every curve of the sketch he had drawn.

Makoto's green eyes widened at the sight of Haruka's sketch of the boy trapped in the bird cage. It was then that he questioned himself if Haruka was really such an artist to have depicted the emotion of the boy to be... Real. It shook his heart, his mind filling in with questions. _Why did Haru draw such a thing? _He could actually ask in his mind's voice.

"This is new." Makoto tried to shake the uneasy feeling off his chest. "I never seen you draw like this before." He handed the sketchbook back to Haruka as the boy put it back inside his bag. "You have always been skilled with your hands but this drawing is kind of different from the ones you usually draw." The brunette continued in all honesty.

Haruka swallowed the lump in his throat, then raised his brow then after, trying so hard for him not to notice the uneasiness and confusion jumping up and down in his head.

"Is that so...?" Haruka replied after seconds of silence. "How is it different then?" He said with a straight face, like he usually does.

"Your drawings..." Makoto started his chin with his fingers. "... Are calmer, lighter, happier and somewhat filled with hope compared to that one." He said with the same gentle aura he had. "Now that I think of it, your drawings are like you, Haru." He chuckled. "Calm on the outside but you feel really feel different things on the inside."

Haruka could feel the embarrassment filling up his face. He then stood up and zipped us his bag and went pass Makoto.

"I'm going home." He said, passing through the doors, leaving Makoto.

"Ahh!" Makoto said in surprise, packing his things in panic as he ran, chasing Haruka in the hallway. "Wait for me! Let's walk home together, Haru!"

Makoto ran a few steps to reach Haruka's side as the raven haired boy began to cough when they reached the stairs. The brunette shook his head, trying to forget Haruka's drawing.

"Ahhh! Mako-chan, Haru-chan!" Nagisa's voice echoed in their ears as he saw him in the scholl entrance with Rei and Gou by his side. "Let's walk to the station together, okay?" He smiled at them.

The walk was rather quiet than they expected, other than Nagisa's ranting about their unfair diet except for the flavored protien powder, there was nothing else they could discuss about.

"Onii-chan is already practicing hard for perfectuals." Gou said, breaking the silence, enthusiasm covering up her voice. "Let's do our best too. Let's make it once again to the regionas!"

"The nationals should be our main objective this year." Rei replied, pushing his glasses back with Nagisa nodding his head cheerfully.

They heard the trains passing by as they reached the station. The rails were finally fixed but it seems that the schedule was changed and the next train to their homes was about fifteen minutes more and twenty for both Haruka and Makoto's.

"Anybody want some?" Nagisa said, cheerfully as he showed off some sea salt ice cream he bought at the nearby convenience store.

"I wouldn't want to share an indirect kiss with you, Nagisa-kun." Rei said, his face showing a hint of disgust as the others began to shake their heads. "I'll pass."

"What about you, Haru-chan?" Nagisa continued, waving the iced popsicle in front of Haruka's face. "Want some?" He smiled.

The others laughed at Nagisa's actions as he began trying to hypnotize Haruka into eating ice cream.

"Hey, Nagisa!" Makoto said in the middle of chuckles. "If you're not going to eat it then throw it away, don't let Haru eat it" He laughed once more after the statement.

Haruka on the other hand, covered his mouth and avoided looking at his friends' gazes as he tried to hide his coughs once more, not to become too suspicious looking.

"Eh...?" Gou's voice suddenly echoed. "Haruka-senpai, are you okay? You look kind of pale..." She said, her hand trying to reach Haruka's face.

"What?" He coughed back in repy. "Really? I'm just a little tired, that's all..." His reply muted their laughs and all their eyes were now focused on him, as if they didn't believe his words.

'_This is bad...'_ Haruka cursed in his thoughts.

'_Train leaving for...'_ The electronic voice of the speakers shot through their ears. Haruka could almost sigh in relief but didn't.

"Ah, that's our train!" Nagisa said,staring at the clock, finishing his ice cream. "Come on, let's hurry" He jogged pass Rei and Gou as the two slowly follow, with the redhead looking back at Haruka.

Haruka could only stare at the three of them leave as he secretly thanked God for the timing. Gou was really sharp to notice, he was surprised himself. Was he really that pale that Gou could see it even in sunset?

"Let's go, Haru." Makoto smiled at him as he nodded back. "Train's leaving."

He felt the bottle once again in resting in his pocket, twisting the lid open and then twisting it closed. Okabe wouldn't give it to him if he would never use it and never would he even lie to him. So, it was then Haruka thought to himself that his friends would definitely know soon even if he didn't tell them. He could have an attack and pass out, drown during swimming practice or even the constant coughs he has been getting could sell him out. The possibilities were endless.

"Hey, Haru." Makoto called as they got out of the mettalic vehicle. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Haruka avoided his gaze and continued walking.

"Yeah... I am, don't worry." He replied in a soft voice. "I'm really just tired from school and all. I haven't got enough sleep lately because of homework."

It was a while before Makoto could reply but Haruka couldn't even find the words to support his earlier statement.

"If Haru says so, then I'll believe it." The brunette gave out a smile and Haruka swore he felt the guilt piercing through him as he clenched his fists and bit his lip.


End file.
